Street food with a twist

Chef Ram Datt Bhatt, Nukkad cafe
Over the years, I have realised that a visitor will definitely visit a restaurant again if he experiences the flavours of street food in the dishes he orders. So, we have tried to give a new taste to street flavours with a few contemporary changes. Pakoda is everyone’s favourite and our take of pakoda is Cheese Cheddar Pakoda, with a stuffing of cheese. Similarly, we have customised a traditional samosa with a stuffing of matar keema. It is called Railway Cutlet Samosa.

Cheddar Cheese Pakoda
Ingredients
2 bread slices
150 gm cheddar cheese
30 gm potatoes
5 gm coriander seeds
4 gm garam masala
30 gm besan  
salt to taste
2 gm chopped coriander  
5 ml oil

Method
Stuff all the spices with mashed potatoes and cheddar cheese in bread slices.
Coat it with besan batter and deep fry.
Serve with mint sauce.

Railway Cutlet Samosa
Ingredients
30 gm carrot
30gm beans
30gm cauliflower
30 gm potatoes  
10 gm beetroot  
1 egg
salt to taste
10 gm sonth  
3 gm coriander power  
4 gm jeera power  
20 gm bread crumb  
6 gm mint sauce

Method
Cut all the vegetables in cube sizes and toss with spices.
Mash the potatoes.
Stuff mint sauce into the cutlets coated with breadcrumbs and deep fry it.
Serve with mint sauce.

Sharma Ji Ke Hot Dog
Ingredients
150 gm besan
¼ tsp red chilli powder
½ tsp turmeric powder
Salt to taste
Refined oil for frying
3 medium mashed potatoes
1 chopped green chilli
3 cloves of garlic
1 inch ginger
30 gm cilantro leaves
½ tsp lemon juice
½ tsp garam masala
½ tsp chaat masala
¼ tsp black pepper powder
100 gm sliced paneer
3 pieces hot dog bread

Method
Sieve besan in a bowl and add spices. Add turmeric powder, red chilli powder and salt to taste. Add water slowly and make a smooth batter with pouring consistency, which is not too thick and flowy.
Dip the hot dogs in batter and deep fry.
In another bowl, add two medium-sized, boiled and mashed potatoes. Make sure potatoes are mashed well with very tiny chunks in it.
Make a paste of cilantro leaves, ginger, garlic, lemon and salt to taste. Add paste and garam masala in potatoes and mix well. The paste will enhance the flavour of stuffing and will also balance its moisture.
Cut thin (¼ inch) rectangular slices of paneer and season with black pepper powder, chaat masala, and red chilli powder.
Cut fried hotdog buns from the centre horizontally and spread thin (¼ inch) layer of stuffing and insert  paneer slice .
Sprinkle chaat masala. Enjoy these hot dogs with coriander chutney or tomato ketchup.

Compiled by Garima Arora